With a lengthy list of on board producers including Eli Roth (Cabin Fever, Hostel) and Scott Spiegel (Intruder), 2001 Maniacs is a horror nerd's homage to the original gore-meister himself, Herschel Gordon Lewis. Lewis is the man who pioneered the whole splatter/gore movement back in the 60's (dontcha know) with films like the original Two Thousand Maniacs!, Color Me Blood Red and Blood Feast. 2001 Maniacs is not a direct sequel, nor a remake of Two Thousand Maniacs! by any means. It's more akin to a re-imagining or love letter to Mr. Lewis if you will. But as we all know, not all love letters are worthy of a spot in one's 'under the bed' keepsake box. You know the ones I'm talking about.

We find ourselves here with a story that plays second fiddle to the actual set up. While the original Two Thousand Maniacs! is no Oscar winner by a long shot, it does have that undeniable claim to fame of being one of the first ever splatter films (which is no small feat, and an integral part of horror film history). It has charm, style and wit to spare...and it was made a really, really, long time ago. When no one else was making films like it.

With 2001 Maniacs, 8 unsuspecting visitors find themselves to be the guests of honor at the 'Guts & Glory Festival' in Pleasant Valley, a small 'out of the way' Civil War style town they're mysteriously detoured to. Candidates for doom include 3 students on their way to Spring Break (who were recently chastised in class for disrespecting the Civil War just moments earlier - now THAT'S irony), two hot-to-trot sexed-up teens and their sexually ambiguous traveling companion and a leather clad motorcycle riding black man and his Asian girlfriend. How's THAT for a group of stereotypes? The town itself is full of misfits, tightly laced up corset wearing vixens and at the center of it all, Mayor Buckman (Robert Englund - his performance is easily the highlight of the film) who proudly sports a confederate eye patch. How's THAT for a group of stereotypes?

What follows is a string of set ups, barely linked to one another (or the story) in which our characters wander around town, disrobe and engage in elicit acts. They are seduced, humiliated and more often than not, they are killed by the locals of Pleasant Valley. And they're not just killed for sport (although sport does seem to be a part of what's happening, as with the original)...they're killed primarily for food. They're beheaded, drawn and quartered, crushed by giant bells and anally staked. and then they are cooked for dinner. Sounds like fun huh? Well, it kinda is, on the lowest of all levels I guess. We really have no emotional connection to any of these events or characters, so we really don't care what happens to them. On a purely animalistic level, it's nothing short of entertaining to see these people get naked and gruesomely murdered. All of which seems to happen over and over and over and over again. The filmmakers and producers involved with this film seem to relish this as well. It's the 80's formula baby! I'm fairly certain that just about every female character is seen without a shirt and/or bra at some point during the course of the films' running time. There's even a mid-movie musical montage of sexual acts and shirtless women, oh my!

However, as a film, it's weak. Really weak. In fact, 2001 Maniacs could have easily been called Cabin Fever 2. Great, now I just pissed off fans of Cabin Fever. Characters who are supposed to be interesting, involving or funny (but really, are not) wander around aimlessly making crude jokes just waiting for the requisite blood to splatter. Despite the fact that the original was made in the 60's, the filmmakers here seem more inclined to model theirs after horror films of the 80's. Much like the aforementioned Cabin Fever. I love the 80's as much as VH1, but in reliving the cinematic wonders of the 80's, you don't need to bring all of the unnecessary baggage that comes along with the good stuff. Pay homage to these films, but also try to improve upon them. Don't just give me 90 minutes of boobs and blood. Thrill me, show me something I haven't seen before or at least try to improve upon a hackneyed formula!

That being said, 2001 Maniacs is likely to appeal to an adolesecent audience of 16-year-old blood and horn dogs more so than anyone else. Ahhhhh, to be 16 again. I'm sure that if I had seen this film in '84 I would have been thrilled, but at this point, I was just really bored. It's great to see that these filmmakers are so proud of bringing back a mix of boobs and blood to R-Rated cinema, but if that's all you have to offer me, then I'm just not interested. Geared towards children who really shouldn't be watching films like this anyway (but c'mon, we know they are) I'm sure this film could wind up raging success to the teenybopper market. For me, I just don't need to relive the 80's through copycat cinema in 2006. It's quite all right to bring back boobs and blood to the silver screen, but at least offer me a new twist in the process and then maybe I'll be interested. Until then, 2001 Maniacs will remain a mildly entertaining horror spoof that I'm not likely to want to revisit anytime soon. Sorry.

Audio is offered in either 5.1 or 2.0 and they are both equally solid tracks. The 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer is pretty clean. Extra features start off with two full-length audio commentaries. Director Tim Sullivan and star Robert Englund on the first and Sullivan with his co-writer Chris Kobin and co-producer Chris Tuffin on the second. Sullivan and Englund are particularly manic in their delivery. But their enthusiasm is no match for dull cinema. The commentary is still interesting, maybe even more interesting than the film itself. I couldn't bring myself to sit through the entire second commentary. Inside The Asylum is an exhaustive 40+ minute behind-the-scenes / interview segment. In addition to an assortment of on screen interviews with Director Tim Sullivan, and various cast and crew members, many of the films executive producers are also spotlighted. Uh huh. All of this is followed by more than twenty deleted scenes, bloopers, outtakes etc. totaling over 30 minutes. An audition reel and trailers for other Lions Gate films round off the bonus features. Probably the most clever and interesting thing about this whole production are the nifty animated menus, and that's not saying much. Sure it looks like they had fun making it, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I'm going to have fun watching it.